Thursday, December 11, 2014

The Declaration of Independence Map

The Digital Declaration of Independence uses the Neatline story map tool to present a high-resolution scan of the 1823 facsimile of the Declaration of Independence, an annotated version of John Trumbull's 1819 painting 'Declaration of Independence' and a map showing the home towns of all those who signed the Declaration.

I particularly admire the way the Neatline mapping tool has been used to create an interactive version of Trumball's painting. John Trumbull's, Declaration of Independence, depicts the presentation of the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress. 42 of the 56 signers of the Declaration are portrayed in the painting.

If you scroll to the bottom of the map sidebar you can see a list of all those who signed the Declaration of Independence. If you select the 'painting' icon next to the name of one of the signers the mapped painting zooms in to show their portraiture in the painting. Their name also then appears in the map menu and you can select the name to read a biography of their life. If you select the 'map' icon next to a name you can view their hometown on a map of the United States.